Could Be Worse
by Kayson135
Summary: Having just finished his Masters and falling behind on rent, Merlin's in desperate need of a job. Unfortunately, nothing in his field is available immediately and the last resort his godfather managed to rustle up ("I already have a secretary, Merlin") isn't exactly what Merlin would call his dream job. Slash.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N **I wrote this fic for a good friend of mine from LJ. It's posted there as well as Ao3 if you guys prefer those sites! I hope you all enjoy!

"Arthur, it really could have been worse," Morgana said, eyeing her step-brother critically as she sipped her tea.

Arthur raised his eyebrows at Morgana disbelievingly and leaned back against his couch cushions. "He broke my laptop."

"You work too much." She shrugged and pointedly ignored looking at the remains of what had once been Arthur's prized, custom-built laptop. "Besides, I'm sure your files are backed up."

Arthur glared at her. "That's not the point." After a moment, he muttered something that sounded like, "I don't know why I thought you'd be sympathetic."

Morgana actually laughed. "If you'd really wanted sympathy, you would have phoned Gwen." She grinned wolfishly. "Instead, you rang me. So tell me, what is it you really wanted? If you want my opinion, I think it's rather funny."

"That's because you're a sadist," Arthur grumbled, glancing back at his broken laptop.

"Are you really upset?" Morgana asked, sounding both concerned and curious. "I didn't think you liked him all that much."

"No," Arthur replied, resigned. "I didn't."

Morgana gave him an appraising look before saying, "I'm sorry." She reached out as if to take Arthur's hand but changed her mind at the last minute and awkwardly patted his knee instead. "You'll meet someone. Someone you actually like."

"It's not that," Arthur told her, half-smiling at her attempts to comfort him. He nudged his broken laptop with his foot, trying not to think about how much he hated using the company laptop that was still in his desk at work.

"If you invited me over to mourn your stupid laptop rather than offer comfort after Peter broke it off with you, I'm leaving," Morgana informed him, eyes narrowing.

"I'm not mourning a _laptop_," Arthur argued, refusing to meet Morgana's gaze, "and you're hardly comforting."

Morgana's eyes softened and she actually did squeeze Arthur's hand this time. "You'll find someone."

"I don't want to turn into my father."

_There_, Arthur thought, _I've said it_. He got out what had been burdening him for the last hour as Morgana sat with him, trying to figure out what to do now that the man he'd been seeing for the better part of seven months had stormed out when Arthur checked his email for the third time during dinner.

Morgana let out a whoosh of air as she stared at him, eyes wide with shock and something else Arthur couldn't quite place but that he thought might be pity. She didn't offer him any reassurances, didn't say that he was nothing like his father. Instead she just shook her head and said very quietly, "I know."

Arthur looked up to meet Morgana's eyes and felt something in him crack before he swallowed thickly and looked away. "I'm going to be thirty in a few weeks."

"So?" Morgana demanded, suddenly tired of Arthur's wallowing. "I just got married and I'm thirty-three."

Arthur glared at her. "You're really not helping." He realised he probably shouldn't have made the age comment. For some reason she'd always been sensitive to the fact that she was a few years older.

"Look," Morgana said, sounding amused. "I'm sorry Peter dumped you, but you really need to get over yourself and start thinking that there might be a common factor in your failed relationships."

"Morgana," Arthur said dangerously, "if you're about to tell me that I'm the common factor, I will beat you with what is left of my laptop."

Morgana laughed. "Think about it, though. You do have a tendency to talk about your job as if it's the love of your life and your partners as if they're…well, work."

"I like what I do," Arthur replied with a shrug.

"Just think about it," Morgana said, putting her empty mug on the coffee table. "I think it's time you found someone to date that you like a lot more than you like your job."

Arthur nodded, not quite wanting to admit that his step-sister was right, and told Morgana to go home as it was past nine and he had work in the morning.

* * *

Merlin sighed as he watched his godfather flip through the files on his desk. It had been three months since he'd graduated with his Masters in computer engineering and he still hadn't found a job. Gaius had been his last hope, but it seemed that even his godfather wasn't able to hire him on.

"You don't really want to work as IT support anyway," Gaius was saying, looking at Merlin apologetically. "That's not what you studied for."

Merlin sighed. "I'd do just about anything right now," he admitted. "I've had to ask for an extension on my rent now that Freya's moved back to Sweden."

"Your messiness finally scare her away?" Gaius raised an eyebrow, knowing just how horrendous Merlin's organisational skills truly were.

"I'm not that bad!" Merlin protested. "I think she wanted to be closer to her family. I'm happy for her. It's just hard to pay rent for a two bedroom flat when I'm on my own."

"Ask that boyfriend of yours to move in," Gaius suggested. "What's his name again? Gilli?" When Merlin involuntarily flinched and looked away, Gaius sighed. "Oh, Merlin."

"It's fine," Merlin said, waving Gaius off. "It's been over a month now and I'm the one who ended it."

Gaius nodded. "Well, I'm sorry there isn't more I can do for you."

"You really don't need an assistant?" Merlin asked hopefully. "Just for a few weeks?"

"I'm sorry, Merlin." Gaius shook his head. "I don't do the hiring around here even if I did need an assistant."

Merlin sighed and sank back against the uncomfortable desk chair Gaius had offered him. "Can you think of anything here that I could do? Camelot Enterprises is a big company, there must be something." He looked at Gaius pleadingly. "I really need a job, Gaius."

"I know Uther Pendragon quite well," Gaius said slowly, finally taking pity on his godson. "Go get something to eat and meet me back here after lunch. I'll see if there isn't a temporary position somewhere." He looked at Merlin seriously. "You'll really do anything? I don't think I'll be able to find you anything with computers and I doubt it will be much more than making copies and filing paperwork."

"Just something to pay the rent until I can find something better," Merlin confirmed, doing his best not to get his hopes up. They'd already turned his heat off and if Merlin didn't make this month's rent, he would be out on the street. His mother had offered to help him, but Merlin knew she could barely afford her own mortgage and he couldn't bring himself to ask her.

"All right," Gaius said with a sigh. "I'll speak with Uther. If you go to Miss Alice's Tea House around the corner, I wouldn't say no to a large, strong cup of black coffee and some chocolate biscuits."

Merlin smiled and got to his feet. "Thanks."

* * *

"I've got a new PA starting this afternoon," Arthur announced as he and Leon stepped out of the elevator.

"Finally!" Leon said, grinning. "Think they'll last without someone else trying to snatch them up?"

Arthur was about to reply that from his resume, the new PA seemed slightly over qualified so he wouldn't count on it, when he noticed Peter walking across the lobby towards the two of them. Leon muttered that he would meet Arthur at their usual shop and hurried out of the building.

"What are you doing here?" Arthur asked, frowning at Peter who indicated that they should walk outside and talk.

"Security wouldn't let me up," Peter said wryly. "Didn't take you long to tell them I wasn't to visit anymore."

"They need to know if there's a risk," Arthur said with a shrug as he followed Peter out of the building.

"I'm hardly dangerous," Peter snapped, his lips a thin line and his dark eyes cold when he glanced at Arthur.

"You broke my laptop," Arthur pointed out. "I'm not sure if I can save the hard drive."

"Your files are probably all backed up somewhere," Peter replied shortly, though he had the good grace to look embarrassed. After a moment he added, "I'll replace it."

Arthur was about to tell him to go to hell but he was tired of fighting and asked, "Is that what you're here for?"

Peter shook his head. "I wanted my key back."

"Oh," Arthur said, putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out his set of keys. "I don't think I ever gave you a copy of mine."

Peter snorted. "Of course you didn't."

Arthur ignored him and stopped to pull Peter's key off of his keychain in front of Miss Alice's Tea House where Leon was waiting for him inside. "Is there anything else?"

"You're really a selfish bastard, aren't you?" Peter commented quietly, taking his key from Arthur and stepping out of the way as a thin, dark-haired man walked out of the tea house chatting with his mobile pressed between his shoulder and ear, his hands full with two takeaway cups and other items.

"I'm not doing this anymore, you're the one who ended it," Arthur replied, ignoring the dark-haired man who was now standing a few feet away from them chatting on his mobile and pretending not to listen to their conversation while he juggled the takeaway cups, a pack of chocolate biscuits, his wallet, and keys.

"I thought you might apologise," Peter said, crossing his arms.

Arthur snorted. "For what? You're the one who broke my laptop and just called me selfish."

"Maybe for ruining my celebration dinner? The one I cooked for myself," Peter suggested. "Or did you forget somewhere between checking your email and answering your work mobile that I made partner yesterday?"

"I didn't forget," Arthur answered. "I just needed to make sure everything was fine at work."

"You always come first; if that's not selfishness, I don't know what is," Peter said, shaking his head. "Let me know when you replace your laptop and I'll reimburse you."

"I think I'll be okay," Arthur said coldly, furious that he was getting a lesson on manners from the man who had thrown a tantrum in his flat the previous night and destroyed a very expensive computer in his flight of temper. "I still earn more than you even with your promotion."

Peter made a disgusted noise and turned away from Arthur, stepping around the dark-haired man who was still talking on his mobile as he attempted to manoeuvre his wallet around the takeaway mugs.

Arthur took a step forward to offer help when the man turned his back to Arthur and said in what Arthur assumed the man thought was a quiet voice, "You wouldn't believe what just happened, Will. These two selfish prats just broke up in front of me and one of them…"

Arthur didn't stay around to hear the end of that sentence. Fuming about eavesdropping busybodies who couldn't respect people's privacy, he stormed into the tea house to meet Leon and try to convince himself that this day couldn't possibly get any worse.

* * *

When he returned with Gaius's tea and biscuits, Merlin was greeted with one of his godfather's rare pleased smiles and the information that yes, there was a job for Merlin if he wanted it.

"Personal assistant?" Merlin asked sceptically, sipping his own cup of tea. "Isn't that just another word for secretary?"

"Not quite," Gaius replied. "The company has secretaries; your job is slightly different. You answer directly to Arthur."

"It sounds like I'm his servant." Merlin chuckled. "Please tell me I don't have to help when he goes to the loo or do his tie up for him."

Gaius snorted. "He'll tell you what the tasks are when he comes back from lunch."

"You've already said I'd do it, didn't you?" Merlin asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't that he minded Gaius agreeing to this job for him; it was that the job sounded like a more permanent position and Merlin really didn't want to do anything outside of his field of computer engineering for too long. He'd gotten his Masters for a reason and that reason was not so that he could make coffee for wealthy business executives.

"Uther saw your resume and said you fit what Arthur needs," Gaius replied.

"Why isn't Arthur hiring me if I'm to be his assistant?" Merlin asked. "Doesn't he need to make sure I can do the job?"

"Arthur is Uther's son," Gaius told him, "and I think Uther feels slightly guilty for stealing Arthur's previous PA away from him. It's been a few weeks and Arthur still hasn't found a replacement."

Merlin nodded. "Does he at least know I was hired?"

"Uther told him before he left for lunch," Gaius answered. "I was there. I think he's looking forward to meeting you. He saw your resume and said that you might be able to help him with a few projects right away."

Merlin broke into a broad grin. "Thank you, Gaius!"

"You're welcome, my boy," Gaius said, smiling at Merlin. "Now go meet with Gwen in the HR office and fill out the necessary paperwork before Arthur gets back from lunch. You're to start right away."

* * *

After lunch, Arthur headed back to his office with a small wave to Leon. His meeting with Peter had left him reeling and hearing the stranger begin to talk about him on the phone had left a sour taste in Arthur's mouth, but he'd tried put that out of his head. As Leon had pointed out, it wasn't every day that two men had an extremely personal conversation outside of a busy shop. If anything, Arthur was feeling a little embarrassed and he hoped that the man on the mobile wasn't a frequent customer at Miss Alice's. Arthur didn't think he would be able to look at the man without remembering how poorly he'd acted with Peter.

A knock at his door startled Arthur out of his thoughts and he called, "Come in!" and turned his chair around to meet his new PA.

"Hi, I'm…" the man faltered, his eyes going comically wide as he stared at Arthur before continuing, "I'm Merlin."

Arthur nodded curtly. "Sit down."

Arthur was not about to acknowledge what this man had overheard. He briefly entertained the thought of telling Merlin that he wouldn't be needed, but Arthur dismissed that as petty and ridiculous. Besides, he'd seen Merlin's resume and the man was more than qualified for what Arthur needed. If anything, Merlin could gain some experience working for Arthur and later join Arthur's team if his work turned out to be as good as his resume suggested.

"Gaius said I'm you're new PA," Merlin offered, smiling awkwardly.

"Yes," Arthur answered. He pursed his lips as he looked at Merlin who was now gazing calmly at Arthur as if waiting for his instructions. Merlin was actually quite attractive, Arthur thought before being horrified with himself. This was work; he was not to think about those things at work, especially not about the man who had seen Arthur make a complete arse of himself with his ex-boyfriend in public.

"What am I supposed to do for you?" Merlin asked bluntly, not seeming to realise that his job actually required very little talking on his part.

"Well," Arthur replied, raising an eyebrow and smirking slightly, "mostly you do as I tell you."

Merlin snorted. "Like that kind of thing, do you?"

"Excuse me?" Arthur demanded.

"Sorry," Merlin replied, looking down at his lap but not appearing to be sorry at all.

Arthur frowned but he didn't comment. "I have something I'd like for you to work on. I asked Gaius but he said you'd be better at it."

Merlin leaned forward eagerly. "Do you have a computer problem?"

"Not exactly," Arthur replied and sighed. When he'd first seen Merlin's resume, he'd been excited at the prospect of getting his new PA to recover the files from his broken laptop's hard drive. However, now that Merlin had overheard the conversation about how the laptop had been broken in the first place, Arthur was slightly mortified.

Merlin shrugged. "Well, I'll do my best with whatever it is."

Arthur nodded and opened his desk, pulling out the top and bottom halves of a laptop. He couldn't meet Merlin's eyes as he placed it on the table. "I need the files recovered. Not everything was backed up and…" He looked at Merlin who was staring openly at Arthur with something akin to shock and possibly even sympathy. "Look, I realise you overheard how this…er…happened, but I really need to know if you can get the documents."

"You're lucky he didn't do this to you," Merlin said quietly, still staring at Arthur.

"Huh?" Arthur asked, startled. "What are you…can you fix it?"

"Sorry," Merlin said, not moving to take the broken computer as he watched Arthur. "I just know that sometimes when people are violent with objects they can…you know, hurt people."

"What? No!" Arthur all but yelled, horrified when he realised what Merlin was suggesting. "Fuck. What is the matter with you? Can you fix it or not? I don't pay you to make up stories about my ex."

"You don't pay me anything yet." Merlin made no move to take the laptop. "I know someone who you can talk to if you need to."

"Christ, Merlin!" Arthur snapped, flushing as he finally lost his patience. "Take the laptop, get those files if you can, and don't come back until you're able to talk to me rationally. Peter wasn't abusive; he was just a bit angry and he ended it anyway, so stop trying to get all touchy feely on me."

Merlin snorted, his sympathy gone. "From what I heard, maybe you deserved it."

"Get out!" Arthur ordered furiously.

Merlin grabbed the broken laptop and left, wondering if he was fired as he headed to Gaius's IT office.

"What've you got there?" Gaius asked, looking curiously at the broken laptop in Merlin's arms.

"Arthur's laptop got a bit smashed," Merlin answered, setting the pieces on the desk. "He wants me to recover the files."

Gaius nodded. "He mentioned as much. I didn't realise he'd thrown it out a window."

Merlin snorted. "His ex-boyfriend broke it."

Gaius raised an eyebrow. "He told you that?"

"Not exactly," Merlin answered as he flipped the laptop over and started opening the bottom so that he could remove the hard drive.

"Arthur's quite private," Gaius said after a moment. "I wouldn't bring it up. He's to be your boss, not your friend."

Merlin shrugged. "That's fine. I'm not staying, remember? It's only temporary. Besides, he's sort of a prat."

"He's good at his job and he's going to pay you well," Gaius replied and Merlin could hear the reprimand in his tone. "You don't have to like him but try not to insult him."

Merlin looked at Gaius suspiciously. "Do you like him?"

"I've known Arthur since he was a boy," Gaius answered in a tone that made it clear he was done with this topic.

Merlin sighed and went back to trying to remove the hard drive.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much everyone! I really love hearing from all of you! I promise to respond to the reviews via PM. Some of you had it deactivated so I want to say thanks for reading to you all!**

When Arthur entered his office the next morning and checked his email he found a message from Merlin.

_From: GLeech_

_To: APendragon_

_Subject: Hard Drive Recovery_

_Arthur,_

_I don't have a Camelot email yet so I'm writing from Gaius's. I wanted to tell you I've finished going through your hard drive and managed to save everything. All of your files have been saved onto one of the company externals. You can pick it up from Gaius whenever you come in._

_Merlin_

Arthur stared at the email for a moment before picking up the phone and pressing Gaius's extension.

"IT Support, this is Merlin," said the cheerful voice on the other line.

"Merlin," Arthur said, nonplussed. "This is Arthur Pendragon."

"Oh, bugger," Merlin replied, the cheer gone from his tone. "You're in, then?"

"Yes," Arthur answered, not sure if he should laugh or yell at his new PA to get his arse up to Arthur's office where he was supposed to be.

"Well, did you need something?" Merlin asked. "I sent you an email."

"I saw it," Arthur said. "I'd like my files."

"You can come get the external whenever you like," Merlin told him. "I've got it right here. Gaius checked it, too. Everything was saved."

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. Maybe he should just sack Merlin before things got too out of control; it didn't seem worth the frustration to have a PA who was completely incompetent and idiotic.

"Bring it up here," Arthur ordered.

"Excuse me?" Merlin asked and Arthur could practically feel Merlin's hackles rising at Arthur's tone.

"You're my PA and I asked you to do something," Arthur informed him imperiously. "Bring me the external and hurry up. I've got a job for you."

"I'll be there soon," Merlin muttered and the line went dead.

Arthur sighed and slumped in his chair. What had he done to deserve such a terrible PA? He knew he didn't have to keep him, but Merlin was Gaius's godson and Arthur would feel guilty for sacking him. Gaius had taken Arthur aside after Merlin had gone home the previous day and told Arthur how much it meant to him that he'd agreed to hire Merlin on. Gaius had mentioned Merlin was really a good young man; he was just having a hard time of it at the moment. Arthur decided he'd give Merlin one more chance, if Merlin really had managed to recover those files and was the computer genius his resume made him out to be, maybe it was worth tolerating his unprofessionalism.

* * *

"My master awaits," Merlin announced to Gaius, gathering the external hard drive and walking towards the door.

"You really shouldn't speak to him like that," Gaius said mildly. "He's only asking you to do your job."

Merlin sighed. "I know. I just feel a bit of an idiot for how I acted yesterday when I first met him."

"So your response is to be even more offensive?" Gaius asked, cocking an eyebrow. "If you're hoping to hold on to this job even for one pay cycle, you might want to rethink that strategy."

Merlin flushed. "I will. Sorry, Gaius."

"You're lucky Arthur hasn't chucked you out already," Gaius continued. "He doesn't usually tolerate incompetence."

Merlin bit his lip and nodded. "I'm sorry."

"You better go," Gaius said, nodding towards the door. "Don't keep Arthur waiting any longer than you have already."

Merlin nodded and hurried out of the room, heading for Arthur's office. When he arrived, he knocked once before entering to find Arthur sitting at his desk, still going through his email.

"Do you sleep, Merlin?" Arthur asked when he turned around to survey his new PA.

"What?" Merlin frowned. He had been up late the night before trying to get the files for Arthur, but he'd gone to sleep around one AM. It was nothing compared to his university days where he'd pulled more all-nighters than he wanted to admit.

"That email you sent me, it came after midnight," Arthur replied, eyeing Merlin critically. "You don't actually get paid for working extra hours. This is a salaried position."

"I wanted to finish it," Merlin answered with a shrug. It was true. It had been a while since he'd been given any sort of task that didn't include cleaning his flat or paying bills.

"You worked from home?" Arthur asked, sighing when Merlin nodded. "I'd rather you didn't take my things home with you. If anything happened, I couldn't replace them."

"It's not like I don't know my way around a computer. I'm not going to break your hard drive!" Merlin protested, glaring at Arthur who looked taken aback by Merlin's outburst. He walked over to Arthur's desk and dropped the external next to his keyboard. "You made it sound like it was important so I thought I'd best get it done for you."

"Well, thank you," Arthur replied dubiously, looking down at the external for a moment before connecting it to his desktop.

"All of the files are there," Merlin said grumpily. "You don't need to check them."

Arthur snorted. "I still need to be able to access them, though, yeah?" He opened the folder Merlin had labelled 'Arthur's Files' and sighed in relief when he saw that everything was there from the photos at Morgana's wedding to the most recent draft of a business proposal he hadn't saved anywhere else.

"I don't think any of them are broken," Merlin commented as Arthur scrolled through everything. "I did my best."

"This is brilliant." Arthur grinned at Merlin.

Merlin shrugged. "Sure."

Arthur tried not to laugh. He wasn't sure why, but he found Merlin's rudeness more amusing than anything. If Merlin hadn't proven to be competent Arthur may have gotten rid of him but he decided to ignore Merlin's bad temper and focus more on the fact that Merlin was able to complete tasks quickly. At least Arthur hoped he was, this had been the only task Merlin had been set.

"Did you need anything else? Maybe I need to get you a coffee?" Merlin asked, tone slightly bitter.

"I can get my own and I prefer tea anyway," Arthur replied, not quite paying attention as he read through a new email.

"Well, did you need something?" Merlin asked, clearly wanting to get out of Arthur's office and head back to Gaius's IT office to tinker with computers. Gaius had promised Merlin that when he wasn't doing jobs for Arthur that he could help the IT support crew. Gaius had also told Merlin that it was unlikely he would have much free time working for Arthur but Merlin hoped he would be able to get away. He figured that if he was down in IT he could at least look for jobs more related to his field.

Arthur leaned back and looked at Merlin. "Do you have a desk yet?" When Merlin shook his head, Arthur looked thoughtful. "You still need a Camelot email, as well? Well, why don't you go down to HR and talk to Gwen and see if she can't help push your paperwork through and find you a temporary space. My old PA had a desk just down the hall but since he's now working for my father, I think he kept the space. Gwen will know." Arthur shrugged as if to say that he didn't typically bother with such things. "Come back when your email is set up and we'll work on making sure you have access to my schedule."

"Lovely," Merlin said dryly. "Anything else?"

"Give me your mobile number," Arthur ordered, pulling out his smartphone.

"Why? I'm not letting you ring me at all hours of the night to help you pick out your wardrobe or bring you a curry because you're working late," Merlin warned, sticking his hands in his pockets. "That's not my job."

"Are you quite finished?" Arthur raised an eyebrow, looking both exasperated and amused by Merlin's behaviour. When Merlin just glared at him, Arthur said, "I think you watch too many films. You're my PA, not my slave." He swept his eyes up and down Merlin's slender frame, a small smirk on his lips. "Besides, I think I can dress myself without your input."

Merlin flushed. The trousers to his suit were slightly too short and it had been a while since he'd last dry cleaned the jacket it, but there was nothing_wrong_ with it. It was a perfectly good suit. Merlin opened his mouth to tell Arthur so when the door opened and Uther Pendragon stepped inside.

"Come back when you've finished with that, Merlin, and make sure I get your mobile," Arthur said, waving Merlin away as he greeted his father.

Merlin didn't bother saying anything to Arthur as he left. He'd met Uther Pendragon the day before and the man was intimidating. Merlin might find Arthur to be a bit of a stuck-up prat, but he knew better than to fling insults in front of the boss.

* * *

It took until after lunch for Merlin to get his email set up and find a large cubicle where he could work. It turned out that he would share the area with George, Arthur's previous PA and Uther's current one. Merlin thought that the sandy haired man was rather strange, but he seemed helpful and willing to share the space with Merlin so long as Merlin kept to his side of the large L-shaped desk.

When Merlin had procrastinated enough with setting up his new computer, gathering office supplies, and asking George for the information on the wireless printer they were going to share, he finally sent Arthur an email.

_From: MEmrys_

_To: APendragon_

_Subject: Desk_

_Arthur,_

_I've got a desk and an email now. No electric kettle, so don't bother asking, you're still going to have to make your own tea._

_Merlin_

_P.S. You need to work out a nicer way to ask for men's numbers or they'll think you're only after their virtue._

Merlin waited to see if Arthur would respond to him. He wasn't sure why he was enjoying taunting Arthur so much, but he couldn't help it. It didn't seem to make Arthur angry, if anything he seemed amused. Merlin had pegged Arthur as an uptight arse and a bit of a control freak after overhearing the conversation between Arthur and his ex-boyfriend, but he was finding that Arthur was actually quite level-headed and a dedicated worker. Most people in the company seemed to like him.

When Merlin had mentioned to Gwen from HR that he was Arthur's new assistant, she had smiled at him and said that he was lucky, that Arthur worked hard and was good to his employees. Gwen had warned him that Arthur had a bit of a superiority complex but that as long as Merlin got his work done, Arthur would treat him fairly. Merlin had no intention of not doing his job, but he was sincerely hoping that he wouldn't be stuck arranging Arthur's schedule or filing Arthur's paperwork for the rest of his life.

He grinned when he saw Arthur's response to his email.

_From: APendragon_

_To: MEmrys_

_Subject: Re: Desk_

_Merlin,_

_You're still not my slave and I like making my own tea. You'd probably poison it anyway. Now come into my office, we need to discuss next week's schedule._

_A._

_P.S. Get over yourself and give me your mobile number._

Merlin shook his head and made his way over to Arthur's office. He knew he needed to listen to Gaius and stop taunting his new boss, it was only his second day after all, but it seemed Arthur was willing to play along.

* * *

Two weeks later, Arthur was at Morgana and Leon's house for dinner, trying not to think about the fact that the two of them had just told Arthur they were trying for a baby.

"I really don't want that picture in my head, thanks," Arthur grumbled, earning himself a light smack on the back of his head from Morgana and a sheepish grin from Leon.

"You're not supposed to picture it," Morgana said tartly. "You're supposed to tell us how wonderful it is that we want a child and that you can't wait to be an uncle."

Arthur snorted. "I don't want to think about you spawning." Morgana glared at him and Arthur chuckled. "Of course I'm happy for you, stop looking at me like that."

Mollified, Morgana smiled and put her hand on top of Leon's where it rested on the table. "Have you started dating again? You actually seem…well, happy is the word I'd normally use but I don't think you allow yourself to be happy."

"He's got a new PA," Leon reminded Morgana. "So he's not bringing work home as much and actually gets out of the office before six."

"He's good?" Morgana asked curiously. "Leon said he's got a mouth on him."

"He's rather odd," Arthur admitted. "I think he goes home at night and thinks up new ways to insult me."

Morgana frowned. "Sack him. You don't need to put up with that."

"No," Leon interrupted, "it's actually quite funny and it works. He's really good at what he does, even if it is a bit unconventional."

Morgana didn't look convinced so Arthur said, "He's the man who saw me have a fight with Peter in front of the tea house. I think he's still convinced I'm a bit of a self-centred berk."

"I don't see how that's a good basis for a PA," Morgana replied stubbornly.

Arthur shrugged. "He gets his work done. He's not as competent as George but he actually knows about computers and managed to save those files for me."

"He's better than George was," Leon argued. "Merlin actually tells Arthur when he's being stupid rather than getting passive aggressive or going to Uther."

"You want to recruit him," Morgana accused.

"He'd be a good systems analyst if we can ever get rid of Edwin," Arthur replied, seeing no point in denying Morgana's claim. "Yeah, he's a bit of an eccentric and he's not very nice to me but he seems to get on well with everyone else. I don't need to like him to know we could definitely use him."

Morgana sighed. "Arthur, you need to stop always thinking about work."

"I like my job," Arthur argued.

"I know," Morgana said slowly, looking to Leon for support and sighing when he wouldn't meet her eyes. "I just think you need to start dating again."

"It's only been a few weeks since Peter," Arthur pointed out. "I think I'm allowed some personal time."

"You need a holiday," Morgana retorted. "Get your head on straight and spend some time away from the office. Tell your new PA to arrange it. I'll book you a reservation somewhere quiet and without internet for next weekend."

Arthur made a face. "Morgana, I think I'm capable of sorting my own life out."

"Oh, Arthur," Morgana said indulgently. "You're such a fool."

* * *

"Why would I need to ring you over the weekend?" Merlin asked on Wednesday when Arthur informed him that he would be unavailable Friday evening through the weekend.

Arthur shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps to tell me that you deleted all of my files or that the office burned down and you got out alive."

Merlin snorted. "I don't actually live in this cubicle with George, you know." He looked over at George and said, "No offense, George."

"Of course not," George replied, eyes focused on his computer screen and appearing to ignore the conversation occurring behind him. "I haven't imagined such a thing would occur between us. It would drastically reduce the amount of time I spend assisting Mister Pendragon."

"Right," Merlin said, looking perplexed as well as slightly concerned.

"Thank you, George," Arthur said, trying not to laugh. "Come along, Merlin. I'd like to speak with you."

Merlin got to his feet quickly, wanting to put some distance between himself and George.

"Does he…_service_ your father?" Merlin demanded when they were in Arthur's office.

Arthur looked shocked for a moment before his face broke into a gleeful grin and he started to laugh. "You're a twisted man, Merlin."

"I'm not the one _assisting_ Mister Pendragon," Merlin argued, glaring at Arthur.

Arthur raised an eyebrow, clearly still amused. "I think you'll find that you are, in fact, assisting Mister Pendragon."

"No I'm—oh, you mean you," Merlin said flatly. "Well, that's not quite as impressive."

"I think you'll find I'm massively impressive," Arthur replied suggestively, a grin tugging at his lips as Merlin let out an exasperated sigh.

"I think you exaggerate to the point of lying," Merlin retorted, turning around and heading for the door. "Is there anything you actually needed,_Mister Pendragon_?"

"Yes," Arthur said simply. "Sit down; I need to walk you through the next few days to ensure the correct paperwork gets sent to London for the Mercia deal. That meeting is in two weeks."

* * *

"So how's the new job?" Lance asked Merlin Saturday afternoon while they ate sandwiches in Lance's kitchen. "Do you like your boss more now that you've been working there for three weeks?"

Merlin sighed. "He's a bit of a pompous git but I suppose he's all right."

Lance nodded sympathetically. "It's not for much longer. You'll find something."

"There's nothing out there," Merlin complained. "Working for Arthur isn't too bad, but I wish he'd hire me on as a software engineer or an analyst or something! Camelot Enterprises develops computer technology and I'm stuck working as a personal assistant in the marketing office."

"I know, mate, but you'll find something better eventually. At least you got your heat turned back on and you're no longer eating potatoes for every meal." Lance grinned at Merlin. "I almost broke down and bought you groceries."

"You can't afford that!" Merlin protested. He tried to imagine Lance buying him groceries and was appalled to find that he may have accepted them. Lance was a poor medical student who lived in a dingy two bedroom flat with three other people and could barely make ends meet.

"It's the doctor in me," Lance replied with a shrug. "I was worried you might blow away." He eyed Merlin critically and turned to pull a packet of Hobnobs out of his cupboard. "You're nearly too thin as it is. Take those with you and eat all of them."

Merlin grinned and tore open the packaging, shoving two into his mouth at once. "I hate being poor."

"Me too," Lance replied, chuckling. "Did I tell you I met someone last night?"

Merlin sat up straighter and forced himself to ask around the biscuits, "Where? What's her name?"

"Gwen." Lance smiled shyly. "I think you might know her, actually. She works at Camelot Enterprises."

"Gwen?" Merlin asked, pleasantly surprised. "From HR? She's a lovely girl!"

"We're having dinner on Tuesday and I think drinks again on Friday," Lance replied, looking pleased. "I met her at the Great Dragon."

Merlin nodded in understanding. "Yeah, some of the people from work go there on Fridays. I went the first week but haven't gone again. The owner cornered me near the loo and told me that I wasn't working hard enough to join with my other half and become whole."

Lance snorted. "I met him last night. He's a bit barmy but I think he's harmless."

"Is that where you're going Friday? Maybe I'll tag along with the people from work and make sure she's as nice as I think she is." Merlin winked and finished his sandwich.

"Does Arthur ever go?" Lance asked curiously. "I'd like to meet the man who's able to turn you into a complete idiot."

Merlin rolled his eyes. He'd told Lance about the emails and how he didn't seem to be able to stop himself from insulting Arthur at even at the worst moments. Merlin said that he had no idea why Arthur kept him around and Lance argued that it was because Merlin was probably good at his job and amusing as hell.

"I don't think he does. He's not the type to relax." Merlin looked thoughtful for a moment. "He probably sleeps in his suit and wears his tie to bed."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Some people are into that."

Merlin laughed. "He's too uptight. He's on holiday in Wales this weekend and sneaked in to an internet café after he'd arrived to make sure I'd mailed, faxed, or made copies of everything he'd given me."

"How old is he again?" Lance asked, looking concerned rather than amused by Arthur's antics. "It can't be healthy."

"He's probably about thirty," Merlin replied with a shrug. "He's single, I know that much. Remember? I told you and Will about his boyfriend smashing his laptop and breaking up with him."

"That sounds difficult," Lance said, genuinely looking upset for Arthur's situation. "Maybe you should tell him to come on Friday even if he doesn't usually go. I have a mate I could bring along. If anything, Arthur might think he's a laugh and could have a fun night."

"I don't know if Arthur's the one-off type," Merlin said slowly, fighting down the monster that was now wrestling in his stomach at the idea of Arthur sleeping with a friend of Lance's. Lance's friends were typically do-gooders with infinite amounts of patience. They'd probably be able to put up with Arthur's prattishness, but it would be boring and they…well, they wouldn't be Merlin. Merlin shoved that thought away as quickly as it came, disgusted with himself.

"It doesn't matter," Lance replied with a shrug. "Gwaine's fun to have around and he's smart. You might like him."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I'm not letting you set me up again. Griff was completely mental."

Lance laughed. "Don't worry; I learned my lesson after you made me come save you." He smiled at Merlin. "Try and get your boss to come. I'd like to meet him and it would probably be good for him to get out."

Merlin shrugged. "It's close enough to work; I might be able to convince him to come out for a pint if the day isn't too bad. He tends to be rather cross on Fridays."

"You're too invested in his moods," Lance commented, grinning knowingly at Merlin. "Offer to buy him a drink, he'll probably come then."

Merlin glared at him but didn't argue that he wouldn't mind buying Arthur a pint. Instead, he changed the subject and asked about Lance's upcoming date with Gwen.


	3. Chapter 3

When Arthur returned to work on Monday morning, he found that Merlin hadn't arrived yet.

"He's usually a little late, Mister Pendragon," George said helpfully when he noticed Arthur walk by the second time.

"Of course he is," Arthur muttered. "Idiot."

"Sorry, sir." George looked at Arthur expectantly. "Was there anything I could assist you with?"

Arthur was beginning to wonder where on earth George had learned to speak. _He probably read too much P. G. Wodehouse as a child_, Arthur thought, _and idealises Jeeves_. He briefly wondered if George being Jeeves made his father Bertie and almost laughed out loud at the thought.

"Are you all right, sir?" George asked in that same expectant tone, making Arthur wonder how George would sound if Arthur really wasn't all right.

_He'd probably calmly dial nine-nine-nine and administer necessary CPR_, Arthur realised. _He's even odder than_Merlin_and completely boring_.

"Sir?" George asked again, still gazing at Arthur expectantly.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you, George," Arthur replied. "Would you tell Merlin to come see me when he gets in?"

"Of course, Mister Pendragon," George said, nodding once and then returning to whatever he had been doing on the computer.

Arthur stared at him for a moment before turning and walking back to his office. George had been his PA for only three weeks before his father had taken him instead. At the time Arthur had been frustrated with his father for stealing away a very competent PA but now, Arthur was shocked to realise, his father couldn't pay him to take George back. Merlin might be socially inept and a completely useless PA for most things, but Arthur _liked_him. He liked that Merlin was able to talk to Arthur about software engineering and offer his opinions, however sarcastically, about what would appeal to the public. He liked that Merlin teased him yet still got the important jobs Arthur asked him to do completed on time.

Merlin might be completely unable to handle a simple scheduling without Arthur holding his hand, but he was definitely good for using as a sounding board when Arthur was thinking out loud. He also kept Arthur from falling into the melancholy moods he was prone to whenever Uther overruled one of Arthur's ideas.

Thank goodness his father had taken George.

Too bad Merlin wasn't permanent. Arthur frowned. He'd have to convince Merlin to stay on somehow.

XXXXX

"Should I offer him a raise?" Arthur asked Leon over lunch later that day.

"You could try," Leon answered after a moment. "I don't think that's going to keep him on, though."

"I know." Arthur sighed. "If I could, I'd swap him out for Edwin immediately."

"Why don't you? You're the one in charge of Development and Marketing," Leon reminded him before taking a sip of his Coke. "I wouldn't mind taking Merlin on my team, but I don't have an opening after hiring Percy."

Arthur nodded. "He's not got great business sense, but he understands the technology far better than I do. A little more training and he'd do well as an advisor in Marketing. I'd even take him on for one of our smaller teams once he got a little more experience down in Development."

"You like him," Leon said, clearly amused. "Morgana's right."

Arthur shot him a warning look. "That has nothing to do with it."

Leon chuckled. "It doesn't make it any less true." He smiled at Arthur and shook his head. "Look, mate, I don't care if you like him. I know that wouldn't affect your decisions in terms of who you hire on at work. Maybe you should speak to your father, see if you can't find a place for Merlin. Get rid of Edwin, he's a tit."

Arthur laughed. "I can't. My father hired Edwin on and he hasn't done enough to justify sacking him." He paused for a moment. "Maybe I'll see if I can't convince Merlin to come to London with me. He's helped me with this proposal and we've got enough in the budget for a second hotel room."

"He'd get the experience," Leon agreed, looking at Arthur knowingly.

"Exactly," Arthur replied. "He wouldn't get to do much but at least he'd see how these meetings work and he'd be good to have around when we start thinking about our contract with Mercia."

"He's also your PA," Leon pointed out. "It's in his job description to travel with you for these sorts of business ventures."

Arthur grinned. He'd never really included his PAs in this type of thing before. His father took George all the time while Arthur preferred to do most of his work on his own. Merlin would be good company, Arthur thought, and he'd probably throw a royal fit at being ordered to pack his bags for a five-day trip to London.

"I'll tell him this afternoon," Arthur said. "You're right, it's his job."

"I can't wait to hear how that works out." Leon snorted. "I've never seen anyone who likes spending time with you less than Merlin. Perhaps tell him to bring you a coffee before you spring this on him."

XXXXX

"Forget it," Merlin snapped later that afternoon when Arthur had informed him about his decision to bring Merlin to London. "I'm not tagging along so that I can shine your shoes and be stuck in a hotel room all day waiting for you to return just so that I can tuck you into bed."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Don't be stupid."

"Excuse me?" Merlin demanded, glowering at Arthur. "I don't think it's stupid to complain about having to rearrange my schedule to help you deal with your personal habits."

Arthur snorted. "You've got over a week, unless there's something really important you need to take care of, you're coming to London with me."

"I don't want to," Merlin said petulantly, making Arthur grin evilly.

"That hardly matters," Arthur replied, doing his best not to laugh at the outraged look on Merlin's face. "Your job description is that you're to assist me with business matters, even those that occur outside of the office."

"You're a pervert," Merlin moaned. "You're just trying to get me alone and then you're going to play the boss card and I can't afford to get sacked so I'm going to end up servicing you like George services your father."

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled, ending what Arthur considered to be Merlin's dangerously treasonous tirade. "Shut up."

"I'm not sleeping with you," Merlin muttered so quietly Arthur almost didn't hear.

"Obviously!" Arthur exploded, noting with satisfaction that Merlin turned bright red. "What is the matter with you?" Arthur shook his head, trying to clear all of the inappropriate thoughts that were now springing unbidden to his mind. "You'll have your own room and a stipend for food. I just need you there for meetings; you can do whatever you want when you're off." He raised an eyebrow at Merlin and crossed his arms over his chest, assessing Merlin who was still beet red and not meeting Arthur's eyes. "Does that work?"

Merlin nodded and mumbled, "Yeah, fine. I'll go to London." He backed away from Arthur's desk. "I need to, er, go work on that filing."

"Oh, right," Arthur said, suddenly confused. "Go ahead." He watched Merlin turn to go and called quickly, "Merlin!"

Merlin turned around and looked at Arthur with wide eyes. "Yes?"

"Make sure you buy a decent suit before we leave for London."

"Of course," Merlin replied with a sigh, shaking his head as he left the room.

Arthur's mouth twitched at Merlin's expression and turned to get back to work.

XXXXX

"And then he told me to buy a decent suit!" Merlin ranted to Will over the phone.

"Well, you don't have the best fashion sense," Will said reasonably and Merlin hated that Will, his friend who was the most critical person he knew when it came to the upper class, wasn't taking his side.

"That's not the point," Merlin retorted, slamming into his flat with his mobile tucked between his ear and shoulder and immediately flopping on the couch.

"No, I know," Will replied. "But he's not wrong, is he?" Will sighed and Merlin knew that he needed to calm down, that he was acting childishly if Will was sighing at him. "Mate, I know you're not happy in that job but it's good pay, yeah? Buy the new suit, keep looking for something better, and when you interview somewhere where you want to be, you'll look like you fit in."

Merlin snorted. "Thanks."

Will laughed and said fondly, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah," Merlin said quietly. "It's just-he's such a _prat_."

"He's your boss, you don't have to like him," Will said. "I'd be worried if you did." Merlin could picture the grin on Will's face and he felt a pang of loneliness stab at his heart – he missed his best friend. "Just do what he tells you and you can move on."

"I know, I know," Merlin sighed. "I hate that I've got a job at one of the largest software companies and I'm not doing anything useful."

"Ah," Will said knowledgably. "That's what this is about then." He chuckled and Merlin felt that pang of loneliness again. "Look, I'm sure Arthur's a right tosser but he hasn't sacked you yet. Maybe he likes you. I'd take advantage of that, see if he won't hire you on somewhere else in the company. They've got to have an opening somewhere!"

"I called him a pervert," Merlin reminded him, mortification starting to creep in over the righteous anger. "I told him his father's PA _services_ his father."

Will snickered. "Still, he didn't sack you."

"He's probably thinking up torture methods," Merlin muttered. "That's why he's taking me to London. Will, what if he plans on killing me in London and making it look like an accident?"

"Merlin!" Will choked out, laughing uproariously. "You wanker!"

"I know," Merlin moaned. "I'm in so much trouble."

"No!" Will cried, still howling with laughter. "You'll be fine. Just don't shag him!"

"I won't," Merlin snapped, horrified. "I mean, he's fit and all but he's…"

"Merlin," Will cut in, "I was joking. Shit. Don't shag your boss."

"Right," Merlin replied.

"I'm serious," Will said, a warning note in his voice. "I'll never forgive you if you bring home some posh git."

Merlin snorted. "You know, you're not my mum and I don't need your approval for these sorts of things."

"Yes you do," Will replied and Merlin knew he was smirking. "Sorry, mate, but I'd better go; I'm working nights this week."

"Sure," Merlin said, smiling. "Thanks."

Will chuckled. "Anytime."

"I'll talk to you later," Merlin said, still smiling when he tossed his phone onto the counter. Will might have crap advice sometimes but he knew how to cheer Merlin up.

XXXXX

On Friday afternoon, Arthur found himself sitting in his father's office for their biweekly meeting feeling as though he was five years old.

"I understand, Father," Arthur said for what he thought must have been the millionth time in the last hour. "I've got everything sorted, the meeting's next Friday."

Uther nodded. "I don't need to remind you how much we need this deal."

"I know." Arthur refrained from sighing. He'd heard it all before and was tired of his father's reluctance to let Arthur manage his own department.

"I see you're taking that PA of yours," Uther commented. "Are you sure you can trust him to do his job? He seems a bit half-witted."

If anyone else had said that, Arthur would have chuckled, as it was his father, he felt his lips press together to keep from retorting that Merlin was just fine, thank you.

"He needs the experience," Arthur said finally.

"Make sure he doesn't get in the way," Uther said seriously. "We can't afford to lose this deal due to some idiot's mistake."

"Don't worry, Father, I'll make sure Merlin does his job," Arthur replied, feeling slightly guilty. He liked Merlin and trusted his opinion but he knew if he told his father that then Uther would only scoff.

"See that you do." Uther looked his son over and nodded once. "Be sure to send me updates while you're in London."

"I will." Arthur got to his feet, trying not to feel hurt at his father's obvious lack of trust. "Have a nice weekend, Father."

Uther grunted and Arthur left the room, wishing, not for the first time, that he didn't care so much what his father thought.

He was rounding the corner to his office when he spotted Merlin walking towards the human resource office.

"Merlin!" Arthur called, nodding towards his office when Merlin turned around.

Merlin visibly flinched. "Can I have a minute?"

"Now, Merlin," Arthur ordered, walking into his office with a quick glance to ensure Merlin was following. He grinned to himself at Merlin's obvious annoyance and settled behind his desk, trying to shake off the bitterness that always came with meeting with his father.

"What is it?" Merlin asked tiredly. "Don't tell me you're making me go over the bookings for London again. We're not leaving until Wednesday and I've already confirmed them twice."

Arthur snorted and grabbed a file from beside his keyboard. "I need you to look over those before we leave."

Merlin took the file, tucking it under his arm. He frowned at Arthur before asking cautiously, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Arthur said, wondering what brought the question on.

"You look angry," Merlin said, his usually mocking tone gone to be replaced with something like curiosity and maybe even a little concern. "I didn't do anything, if that's what's got you bothered."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Guilty conscience, have you?" He chuckled when Merlin glared at him. "It's nothing, I'm just thinking about London."

Merlin nodded, looking thoughtful. "You know," he said slowly, as though he were about to regret his next words, "a few of us are going out for drinks later."

"I know," Arthur said with a dismissive wave. "People go every Friday."

"You don't," Merlin replied. "Why don't you?"

"I work late on Fridays." Arthur shrugged. "It means I don't need to come in on the weekends and it's quiet without all of your chatter."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Take the night off, come out with us."

Arthur cocked an eyebrow and teased, "Are you asking me out?"

Merlin looked away for a brief moment before retorting, "You wish."

"Another time," Arthur said, sighing. "I've got to get ready for London."

"No, you should come," Merlin argued, surprising Arthur with his genuine insistence.

"Fine," Arthur said, "I suppose if we're to spend five days in London together it's best to see you pissed and know what I've signed up for."

"Prat," Merlin teased, not bothering to hide the grin on his face.

"Get back to work," Arthur said gruffly, trying not to think about how this was one of the few times Merlin had openly smiled at him and how much he liked it. "I'll see you at the pub."

Merlin nodded, smiling privately to himself in a way that made Arthur's stomach flip over, and left the room.

XXXXX

When Arthur left his office after six that evening, he found Merlin still at his desk, a pencil behind his ear as he read through the documents Arthur had given him earlier. George was nowhere in sight and Arthur wondered why Merlin stayed; he wasn't required to remain after five.

"You know, you're welcome to go off and order a drink," Arthur said, chuckling when Merlin jumped at the sound of his voice. "It's not that I don't like seeing you take your job seriously, but I know that a pint is probably more exciting."

Merlin spun his chair around and offered Arthur a genuine smile. "I was interested."

"No you weren't," Arthur said, frowning. "Really?"

"The new product," Merlin said, tucking the papers back into the folder and then locking them in his filing cabinet. "It's good. Joining with Mercia will help; the new processor with one of their designs will be really popular."

"You think?" Arthur asked, wondering where Merlin's business sense was coming from.

Merlin grinned. "Well, I'd want to play with it."

Arthur shook his head, pleased for some unknown reason that Merlin was actually interested. "You'll get to hear more about it when we're in London."

Merlin nodded. "Are you still going to the pub?" He would never admit it to Arthur, but one of the main reasons he'd stayed, despite being interested in the new computer technology, was to ensure Arthur didn't wiggle out of having drinks.

"Yeah, I said I would, didn't I?" Arthur quirked his lips in what might have been a smile but managed to simply make him look smug.

"You're leaving now?" Merlin asked, shutting his computer down and getting up, checking to make sure he had his keys.

"Is this your subtle way of asking for a lift?" Arthur teased, smirking when Merlin rolled his eyes.

"No," Merlin said, walking past Arthur and leaving the office, heading for the lift. "I was going to take the bus. It's just a few stops."

"I'll drive us and save you the fare." Arthur stepped into the lift with Merlin and pressed the floor for the parking garage.

Merlin thought to protest but knew it wouldn't do him any good. Besides, he didn't really mind riding with Arthur for ten minutes and he was curious as to what Arthur was like outside of the office environment.

The elevator door opened and Arthur motioned for Merlin to walk out. "Let's go, I think we're probably already late."

"It's not a business meeting," Merlin chided, following Arthur through the garage. "It's drinks with friends from work."

Arthur shrugged and pulled out his smartphone, frowning at whatever it was he read but offering no explanation. Instead, he pulled out his keys and offered them to Merlin. "Can you drive?"

"What?" Merlin asked, staring at Arthur who appeared to be perfectly serious. "No."

"I thought you knew how to get there," Arthur snapped, walking briskly over to a Vauxhall Astra and unlocking the door. He caught sight of the look on Merlin's face and raised his eyebrows in question. "What?"

"Nothing," Merlin replied, staring at the hatchback. "I just didn't expect you to drive something so…this," he finished lamely.

"It's very British," Arthur said seriously, though it was clear he was trying not to laugh.

"It's old," Merlin said bluntly, still staring at the car.

"I bought it for myself back in uni," Arthur replied brusquely, holding the keys out to Merlin again. "I'd appreciate it if you drove; I need to respond to this email."

"I can't," Merlin said, shaking his head once. For clarification purposes when Arthur seemed to be getting frustrated, Merlin added, "I don't have a licence."

Arthur sighed and wrenched the door open, climbing in and telling Merlin to do the same. He turned the car on as soon as Merlin had his seatbelt buckled and drove out of the garage.

"Why don't you have one?" Arthur asked, navigating the busy, narrow streets easily.

"Never saw the point," Merlin replied. "Didn't need one at uni and the bus and train systems work well enough." He didn't add that he never could have afforded to buy a car, not when he could barely afford to feed himself and pay his bills.

"Fair enough," Arthur said and drove the rest of the way in silence. He pulled into a parking spot just down the street from the pub and immediately pulled out his mobile. "You go ahead, I need to send this."

Merlin wanted to protest and tell Arthur to relax, that he'd invited him to have a drink so that he could have fun, but doubted those words would be welcome. He made an ass of himself enough at the office and figured it was best if he let Arthur have his space. _Besides_, he told himself, _Arthur won't listen to me anyway_.

"See you inside," Merlin said, getting out of the car and doing his best not to be offended or hurt by Arthur's lack of response.

When he entered the pub, the first thing Merlin did was seek out Lance, who was standing by the bar with Gwen and a man Merlin didn't recognise. He recognised many other people from Camelot Enterprises in the pub, including Arthur's friend Leon, but he didn't know enough of them to strike up a conversation, so he headed over to Lance.

"Merlin!" Lance said, obviously pleased to see his friend. "You know Gwen." He smiled at the pretty dark-skinned girl standing next to him.

"Hi, Merlin," Gwen greeted, taking a sip of her drink. "Lance said you've known each other since you were at uni. Isn't this a funny coincidence?"

"I think it's great." Merlin smiled at her. He didn't spend much time with her, but he liked Gwen and often sat with her and a few other people from the office during lunch.

"What about me?" asked the man on Lance's other side, a grin on his face as he looked at Merlin. "I'm Gwaine."

Lance snorted and pushed Gwaine with his shoulder. "He's starting rounds in A and E with me next week."

"Finally out of the psych ward!" Gwaine cried delightedly. "I thought that old lady was going to—"

"Yes, quite enough of that," Lance said quickly, blushing. At Merlin and Gwen's curious looks, he elaborated, "She thought I was a, uh, male escort and tried to take off my shirt."

Merlin and Gwaine burst out laughing and Gwen hid her face in her drink to hide her giggles.

"Thanks," Lance said dryly, shaking his head, "knew I could count on you, Merlin."

"Always," Merlin replied, trying to force a serious expression. "Must have been difficult, you know, fighting off a pensioner."

"Merlin!" Gwen said, laughing and moving closer to Lance as though to apologise for laughing at him.

"I like you, mate," Gwaine informed him, grinning over at Lance who rolled his eyes. "I hear you work at Camelot."

"Oh, right!" Lance said, breaking in excitedly. "I was telling Gwaine about your boss."

"What did you say?" Merlin frowned. He remembered Lance offering to set Arthur up with someone, but he also knew he'd complained about Arthur enough that Lance could have said anything from, 'Merlin thinks his boss is fit, are you interested?' to 'Merlin's boss is an absolute tosser, may want to give him a miss and you can take Merlin out instead.'

"Just the truth," Gwaine replied, making Merlin frown in confusion as Gwaine chuckled and looked around. "Where is the little princess?"

"He's not—" Merlin began.

"Oi! Arthur!" Gwaine shouted over the noise, raising his hand up and waving Arthur over.

Arthur's look of surprise at hearing his name morphed into one of excitement and delight, making Merlin feel a rush of jealousy that he quickly attempted to quash.

"They know each other?" Merlin asked Lance quietly so that Gwaine wouldn't overhear. He watched Gwaine pull Arthur into a hug, slapping him on the back and laughing when Arthur tugged on his long hair, both of them in quick conversation.

"Yeah," Lance replied, looking pleased with himself. "They went to school together, apparently. Gwaine's lived out of the country for a few years, did uni in Germany and came back to start the medical programme we're in."

"Huh," Merlin said, watching as Arthur brought Gwaine over to talk to Leon and a few of the people from Leon's department.

"I thought you'd be happy," Lance commented, picking up on Merlin's mood.

"No, it's great," Merlin said with false cheerfulness. "Reminds me that Arthur's human."

Gwen frowned. "Arthur's lovely, he just works hard, is all. He doesn't mind when you tease him, not that you're not allowed to tease him, of course, I mean, I think he likes you well enough not to get angry and you do your job, but his father would never let you do something like that."

Merlin smiled at her, charmed by her rambling defence of Arthur's character and the compliment she paid him. "Shall we get a table?"

"Let's grab Gwaine," Lance said, nodding towards where Gwaine, Arthur, Leon, and Leon's employee Percy were chatting. "I think you'll like him if you get to know him."

"Lance, I thought I told you not to do this anymore," Merlin muttered. He didn't really want to get to know Gwaine, not if he was so close with Arthur. Especially after knowing that Lance had told Gwaine things Merlin had said. It was rather embarrassing to think that his boss's close friend might know how Merlin harboured inappropriate feelings as well as the desire to give Arthur a swift kick in the pants.

"No, no," Lance said quickly. "I just know you're bored on the weekends and Gwaine's a laugh."

"I have a brother," Gwen added. "He's not gay, but he's a nice guy, you might get on. He teaches history."

"I'm not lonely," Merlin protested, flushing at the idea that Gwen and Lance were trying to find him friends. He felt a bit like the unpopular, shy kid on the primary school playground, the one the guidance counsellor was always trying to make the other kids include.

"I know," Lance said quietly, "but you hardly ever go out now unless it's with me or Will."

Gwen seemed to sense Merlin was uncomfortable and exclaimed, "Oh! You never got your drink."

"It's all right," Merlin said, glad for the change of subject. "I was going to ask Arthur if he wanted one in exchange for the lift."

Lance's eyebrows rose but didn't comment. Instead he walked up behind Gwaine and tapped him on the shoulder, asking if he wanted to join them at the table in the corner.

"We'll all join you," Arthur said, not waiting for an introduction. He nodded to Merlin and smiled at Gwen before leading the six of them over to the table Lance had pointed out.

"I don't think he invited you, princess," Gwaine taunted, reaching up and ruffling Arthur's short blond hair. "You're not his friend."

Arthur rolled his eyes and offered his hand to Lance, who shook it. "I'm Arthur and I'm terribly sorry you're stuck saving lives with this twat." He looked at Gwaine. "Who was stupid enough to let you in?"

Gwaine snorted. "Dunno, mate, but I must have fooled someone."

"Indeed," Arthur replied with a grin, sliding into the chair next to Gwaine.

Merlin took the seat across from Arthur, feeling relieved when Gwen sat down next to him. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt uncomfortable in Arthur's presence and didn't like how familiar Gwaine and Arthur seemed to be. Even Leon seemed to be in on the conversation and Merlin remembered Arthur mentioning once that he and Leon had been at uni together. Merlin assumed that meant Leon had met Gwaine once or twice.

"I need a drink," Merlin suddenly announced, getting to his feet and drawing a startled look from Percy who had just taken the chair on Merlin's other side. "Anyone want anything?"

"I'll go with you," Arthur said, getting up to follow Merlin to the bar and pulling his mobile out of his pocket, scrolling through something Merlin couldn't see but making him want to knock the iPhone out of Arthur's hands. They were supposed to be taking a break from work.

When they had placed their drinks, Merlin was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the silence. He usually was able to ignore Arthur's good looks, even if it resulted in more insults than was appropriate, but seeing Arthur outside of the office and knowing that he could laugh and joke like a normal person made Merlin want to know that side of Arthur.

"Who's your friend?" Arthur asked, looking back at the table where Lance had his arm around Gwen's shoulders and frowning.

"That's Lance," Merlin said. "We were at uni together." Then, because he couldn't control his mouth, he added, "He met Gwen last week and I think he really fancies her."

"Obviously," Arthur said dryly, turning to settle Merlin with his piercing blue gaze. "He'd better be good to her."

"I don't think he just wants to get in her pants," Merlin protested.

Arthur made a face. "Do you actually have the ability to control what comes out of your mouth or do you just put words together and hope your brain eventually catches up?"

"You prat," Merlin grumbled, staring at Arthur who was now looking highly pleased with himself.

"I was wondering when you were going to start talking to me." He grinned and nodded back towards the table. "Your friend, though, he's a good chap? He won't hurt her?"

"What do you care?" Merlin asked, wincing at how rude that sounded. "Sorry. I just didn't know you were interested in her. I thought you liked blokes."

"Tact is not your middle name, is it, _Mer_lin?" Arthur teased, chuckling at Merlin's furious blush. "No, it's all right, honestly. Gwen's my sister's best friend and she'd have my hide if anyone hurt her friend and I could have stopped it."

"Lance won't hurt her," Merlin said honestly. "He's great."

Arthur nodded, seeming to be relieved. "Good."

"It must be good to see your mate," Merlin said after a moment, looking over at where Gwaine was sitting and offering Arthur a half-smile.

"It is." Arthur grinned and he looked younger, Merlin thought, less stressed or something. "He's been back in Birmingham for two years now but we hardly ever see each other." He chuckled. "Funny that he's a friend of your friend."

Merlin wanted to say something about how Arthur should spend more time having fun, how he obviously enjoyed getting out when they could pry him away from his office, but their drinks arrived and he lost his chance.


	4. Chapter 4

"I hear you went out for drinks last night," was Morgana's greeting when Arthur answered his mobile the following morning.

"I'm not hung-over if that's why you're talking to me this early in the morning," Arthur retorted, leaning back in his chair and surveying the neat stacks of paper on his dining room table.

Morgana laughed. "No, actually, I was wondering if you'd like to come to dinner tomorrow night. Gwen's agreed to come and bring her new man."

"That was quick," Arthur said, surprised.

"Oh, Arthur, you prude," Morgana purred almost fondly. "Not all of us wait months and months to introduce our boyfriends to our friends."

"But it's only been a week or two," Arthur protested, ignoring the unsubtle dig at his own dating choices and patterns.

"Both you and Leon met him before I did," Morgana replied. "I think Gwen's serious enough about him that he can come to Sunday dinner if she wants him there."

"Fine," Arthur conceded, "that's fine."

"So you'll come as well?" Morgana asked, though they both knew Arthur would be there. He almost always went over for Sunday dinner.

"Should I bring anything?" he asked instead, forcing himself to sound extremely put-out so as not to give her the satisfaction of knowing just how much he looked forward to dinner with her and Leon.

"Dessert," Morgana answered. "Nothing you baked yourself, we're not subjecting Gwen's boyfriend to that." She chuckled. "At least not yet."

Arthur scoffed, "He's already her boyfriend?"

"Arthur," Morgana warned, "stop it. Just because you're married to your career doesn't mean other people aren't having fun."

Arthur bit his tongue to keep from saying anything that would cause a fight. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Be here at seven," Morgana said and Arthur knew she thought she'd won something. He just wasn't sure what it was.

XXXXXX

When they finished eating the chocolate torte Arthur had brought for dessert, Arthur found himself dragged into the kitchen by Morgana and told it was his job to do the washing up.

"I'm a guest," Arthur protested, crossing his arms when Morgana raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'll help you," she said quickly and Arthur narrowed his eyes, he could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen Morgana do chores in her life. Morgana grinned. "Don't look at me like that."

Arthur sighed and turned on the tap, waiting for hot water to come out before he put the stopper in the sink and began to wash the dishes. "What is it?"

Morgana's gaze softened and she looked as though she were about to try and comfort him. Arthur hoped she wouldn't, it would only embarrass them both.

"I'm fine," Arthur said, hoping that was the correct response to whatever mad idea was brewing in Morgana's mind.

"No," she replied tartly, "you're not." She shook her head. "Arthur, I saw how you were looking at Lance and Gwen."

Arthur stared at her. "I like him, he's good for her."

"Exactly," Morgana replied with a short nod. "What about you, Arthur?"

"What about me?" Arthur asked, bemused. He continued washing the dishes, passing them to Morgana to dry or put in the dishwasher depending on what they were.

"Nothing," Morgana said quietly, "forget I said anything." She was silent for a few moments and then asked teasingly, "They're a bit sick, aren't they?"

"Oh, disgusting." Arthur laughed. "Gwen seems happy, though."

Morgana smiled at him in a way he wasn't sure he liked. "Yes, she does, doesn't she?"

XXXXXX

Merlin looked at the text message Lance had sent him for the third time, wondering if his life could get any more complicated.

_Sunday dinner was nice. I like Arthur. Might ask him to join my footie team._

Lance had rung him the day before to make sure Merlin wouldn't be uncomfortable with him going to dinner with Gwen at Arthur's sister's house. Merlin hadn't known how to react; Arthur was his boss, after all, not an ex-boyfriend or even a friend. He'd muttered something about how it was nice for Lance to already be invited to meet Gwen's best friend and Lance had gone on about how they wanted to include each other in as much of their lives as possible.

Merlin wasn't sure if it was incredibly sweet or incredibly weird. He decided it was moving faster than what he would like for himself but so long as Lance and Gwen were happy, he would support them.

He flopped down on the couch and ripped open a packet of chocolate digestives, cramming two into his mouth as he wondered what would happen if Lance and Arthur became mates. The idea didn't scare him as much as he thought it should. After seeing a more relaxed side of Arthur on Friday night, Merlin had found himself wondering what it would be like to frequently spend time in Arthur's company outside of work. He knew the other man was a workaholic, but he also thought he might have misjudged Arthur; he wasn't as much of an arrogant prat in reality. At least, Merlin didn't think he was.

He'd been incredibly friendly to Lance and had laughed at jokes with Gwaine. Merlin still felt a twinge of jealousy when he thought back to how Gwaine had managed to make Arthur roar with laughter. Arthur had still left the pub before any of the others, but Merlin had only seen him check his mobile twice, which had to be some kind of record where Arthur was concerned.

Merlin sighed and reached for the remote to turn on the television, absently flicking through channels until he finally settled on a rerun of _QI_. It wasn't a good idea to fantasise about his boss. Especially when he and Arthur would be together in London for five days and four nights. He shook his head and turned up the volume, hoping the silly comments from the panellists would help distract him.

XXXXXX

"Are you packed?" Arthur asked Merlin after lunch on Tuesday when he brought Arthur a file.

Merlin nodded. "Yeah, finished up last night."

"Did you get yourself a new suit?" Arthur swept his eyes up and down Merlin's body in a very obvious manner. "I don't want to see that one while we're in London."

Merlin refrained from asking Arthur if he liked anything he saw, knowing it would earn him a scoff and rude response that might actually hurt his pride. Instead, he just nodded and asked, "Do you want me to meet you at the train station in the morning?"

"Where else would you meet me?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "I'm not coming here to collect you."

"I didn't expect you to," Merlin snapped, wondering where the friendly man from Friday night had disappeared to. He'd have to rethink the arrogant prat label if Arthur kept this up.

"The train leaves early," Arthur said, breaking into Merlin's thoughts. "Do try and be on time." He snorted when Merlin started to protest and said, "Don't even try, I know you're late four days out of five."

"The bus comes late sometimes," Merlin replied with a shrug.

"Take an earlier one," Arthur suggested as though Merlin were very dim. "Or better yet, get your licence."

"What's the point? I can't afford a car even if I had a licence," Merlin said quietly, not wanting Arthur to know that he'd embarrassed him.

Arthur looked wrong-footed. "Right, er, well, I'll try and find you a better bus schedule."

"You're too good to me," Merlin spit out sarcastically, grinning in spite of himself. Arthur really did look apologetic even if his attempt at making things better was pathetic.

"Go on, get out of here," Arthur said, rolling his eyes. "Double check on all of the reservations and meetings before you go home. Oh, and make sure all of the relevant documents are on my desk. I'd like to review them this evening."

"Of course." Merlin nodded and headed for the door.

"And make an extra copy for yourself," Arthur called after him as the door was about to shut.

Merlin turned back, eyebrows raised in question.

"It's always good to have a second set of eyes," Arthur said defensively.

"Yeah, definitely," Merlin replied dubiously. "I suppose I am the only other person from the office going that you'll be able to talk to if there are any finals changes to make."

Arthur snorted. "Shut up, Merlin. The document is finalised and if I'd wanted your opinion on it, I would have asked. This is solely so that you'll know what's going on in the meetings."

"Right," Merlin said with a short nod, looking amused. "Whatever you say."

XXXXXX

"Buggering hell!" Merlin swore loudly when he woke the next morning and realised he had exactly twenty-five minutes to get to the train station before the train left. No time for a shower or breakfast and barely enough time to change his clothes. He grabbed the first thing in his closet that he saw – a dark green t-shirt with a faded dragon motif – and a pair of dark jeans. They were taking the train and then going straight to the hotel; Merlin reasoned he could change when they got there. The nicer clothes he was going to wear on the train were in desperate need of ironing and he was very low on time.

On the way out the door, he grabbed his hoodie and a pair of cut-off gloves from the closet, not wanting to even attempt to drag his nicer coat out from his suitcase. With one last look around the flat for anything he might have forgotten, he hurried out the door with his laptop case and new suitcase, which he'd found at Tesco on the cheap and only purchased because it had a built-in garment bag where he could store his new suit.

"Arthur's going to kill me," Merlin muttered under his breath, darting for the bus stop where the bus he needed to take was just pulling in. He managed to get on just in time and thanked the driver profusely before finding a seat.

He felt his pocket buzz and pulled out his mobile to see a text from Arthur demanding to know where he was. He sent back a quick reply, _So this is what happens when blokes give you their number_ and prayed that he would make it to the train station on time. He had no doubts that Arthur would leave without him but tried not to focus too much on that possibility. It didn't bode well for him if that scenario, which was looking more and more likely, occurred.

When the bus pulled in at the stop near the train station, Merlin practically flew outside and sprinted for the station, suitcase hitting him uncomfortably in the ankles a few times.

"Where in the bloody hell have you been?" Arthur roared when Merlin arrived with barely two minutes to spare. He grabbed Merlin's arm almost painfully tight and hauled him from the platform and onto the train.

"Sorry," Merlin panted, too relieved at having made it to actually sound sincere. "At least I'm here."

"Don't give me cheek," Arthur scolded furiously as he shoved his suitcase in the storage bin and stalked over to their seats to sit down, giving Merlin a look that he thought Arthur must have learned from his father.

Merlin quickly packed his things in with Arthur's before grabbing his hoodie and taking his seat. "I really am sorry."

Arthur shook his head and looked out the window as the train pulled away from the station, clearly trying to calm himself down. When he looked at Merlin again, it was with something close to disbelief. "Do you have a good reason?"

"Er…" Merlin began, not sure if he should admit to having overslept.

Arthur sighed, clearly frustrated. "I don't understand. You said you were ready. What was it that kept you? Did you go out last night? Are you hung over? You clearly haven't showered or even bothered to look professional."

"No," Merlin said, wanting to tell Arthur that he was being grossly unfair but not getting the chance because Arthur was still ranting.

"Please," Arthur said through gritted teeth, "give me a reason for why you couldn't get your arse to the train station when I needed you to be. And while you're at it, explain why you look like a uni student."

"I overslept," Merlin answered, wincing inwardly at how pathetic of an excuse it truly was.

"Right, good." Arthur made a disgusted noise. "Just…don't talk to me for the rest of the trip."

"You would have gone on without me," Merlin said, pulling his hoodie over his head so as to avoid the scornful look Arthur was shooting him.

"You'd better believe it," Arthur confirmed, wrinkling his nose at Merlin's clothes but choosing not to comment.

"Then I don't see why it matters," Merlin argued, wanting to get Arthur out of his mood. If they were to spend a little over two hours on the train to London together, Merlin didn't want the silence to be too uncomfortable.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "It matters, _Mer_lin, because I still would have had to deal with getting you to the hotel and then to the meeting. You said yourself you've never been to London."

"No, but I've been to Cardiff," Merlin argued.

"Which isn't London," Arthur pointed out, not looking amused.

Merlin shrugged. "I could have found it."

Arthur sighed. "At least tell me you've got a change of clothes in your suitcase."

"I've got my new suit," Merlin answered, wondering if Arthur was about to order him to change. Arthur was wearing his regular business suit and Merlin had the strange urge to lean over and undo Arthur's tie and order him to relax. He wondered if Arthur actually owned leisure clothes or if he spent his weekends in button downs and dress trousers.

"Good," Arthur replied. "Now pull out those documents I had you copy yesterday. I'd like to go over them with you."

"I thought my opinion didn't matter," Merlin said dryly.

"It doesn't," Arthur replied, his lip curling upward into a smirk. "But I want to make sure you actually did as I told you for once."

Merlin rolled his eyes and went to pull down his laptop bag.

XXXXXX

They managed to make it from the train station to the hotel without running into any complications and Merlin was grateful that the meeting at Mercia Corporation wasn't until that afternoon. It gave him time to shower and change into the new suit as well as hopefully grab something to eat from the small café he'd seen on the way in.

When he'd finally showered and changed, he went down the hall to Arthur's room and knocked.

"Come—oh dear lord, what are you wearing now?" Arthur asked, stepping aside to let Merlin inside.

"What?" Merlin asked, looking down at his new suit with surprise. "What's wrong with this?"

"Nothing," Arthur replied, clearly lying, "but you're not wearing that tie." He went to his suitcase and began to rummage. After a moment he looked over his shoulder at Merlin and raised an eyebrow. "Well? Get it off then."

"I'm not about to get my kit off," Merlin yelped, taking a step back towards the door.

Arthur laughed and said in a way that was almost affectionate, "You're such an idiot."

"Oi!" Merlin protested.

"Your tie," Arthur stated, tugging at his own as if to explain what a tie was. "Take it off. There's no reason to ever wear yellow paisley."

"There was a matching vest," Merlin offered.

"That's awful," Arthur said, looking offended at the thought. "Please tell me you didn't buy it."

"I do have some taste," Merlin grumbled, unknotting his tie and rolling it up.

Arthur offered one of his own, striped red ties. "Put that on and bin the other one."

Merlin took the red tie and put it on but shoved the paisley one into his pocket rebelliously. He knew there was no way he would be able to return it, not when he'd thrown the receipt away, but he didn't want Arthur to think he could control everything.

Arthur watched with amusement. "Are you hungry? We've got quite a good food budget and there's a really excellent restaurant a few Tube stops down."

"I thought most of the food in London was supposed to be good," Merlin commented, feeling surprised at how well Arthur seemed to be acquainted with London when he knew Arthur had been born and raised in Birmingham. Taking public transport seemed to be slightly below him as well, when Merlin thought about it.

"It depends," Arthur said with a shrug. "With how we're dressed, though, I'd really rather not go for a kebab stand."

Merlin grinned at the image of Arthur eating from a street vendor. "Whatever you want, the company's paying."

Arthur chuckled. "Come on, then, if I'm to be in meetings all afternoon I'd like to have time to grab a coffee after lunch."

Merlin did as he was told and followed Arthur from the hotel and to the Tube station. He was surprised again when Arthur pulled out what looked to be a very worn Oyster card and added money to it, getting a disposable ticket for Merlin to use. "Where'd you get that from?"

"Huh?" Arthur asked, looking from the ticket to Merlin with some confusion. "I just bought it at the machine. Keep up, Merlin."

"No," Merlin said as he walked through the turnstile, "that one."

"My Oyster card?" Arthur said with a frown as he turned the plastic card over in his hands. "I've had it since uni, actually. It's in rather bad shape, isn't it? I should probably get a new one." He looked a little sad. "I just don't come into London as much now."

"I thought you did uni at Birmingham." No one had ever actually told him that; Merlin had just assumed Arthur would have gone to the university at home for convenience seeing as how he was set to inherit one of the fastest growing and most profitable computer software companies in England.

Arthur looked startled. "No, LSE." He smiled. "I lived in London for five years, actually. I did my Masters at LSE as well."

"Good uni," Merlin said for lack of anything better to say.

"Yeah," he replied but he didn't sound smug about having gone to one of the best universities out there. Rather, he sounded wistful.

"Do you miss it?" Merlin asked as they walked onto the platform to wait for the train to arrive.

"Uni?" Arthur shook his head. "Nah, it was a lot of work." He grinned at Merlin and looked around the Tube station. "I don't even miss London, not really."

Merlin wanted to ask what it was Arthur did miss but he had a feeling he wouldn't get an answer and so he waited with Arthur in comfortable silence until their train arrived.

XXXXXX

"A latte with cream, really?" Merlin teased as they walked from the Tube station and towards Mercia's office building.

"What's wrong with it?" Arthur asked, sipping his drink.

"Nothing," Merlin said lightly. "It's just, it's a little fluffy, isn't it?"

"Fluffy?" Arthur repeated flatly, elbowing Merlin in the ribs. "I'll show you fluffy."

"Oh, you haven't gained that much weight since I first started working for you," Merlin quipped, feeling much more comfortable with Arthur after their lunch. He'd almost forgotten they were in London on business and that lunch was simply something to fill the time before the meeting, not a date or even a casual meet up between friends.

"I'll have you know I go to the gym at least four days a week." Arthur sipped his drink again, eyebrows raised at Merlin as if daring him to make another comment.

"Fair enough," Merlin said, hands raised in mock surrender. "I just thought you might worry about your arse getting larger."

"Looked at my arse, have you?" Arthur joked, grinning wickedly.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, I could do much better."

Arthur scoffed. "In your dreams."

"No," Merlin said cheekily, "you would only be so lucky."

"I don't think so," Arthur replied, smirking as they approached the building where Mercia had its offices.

"You're not really my type," Merlin lied lightly.

"I'm everyone's type," Arthur said grandly, spreading out his hands and sloshing some of his latte out of the cup.

"Charming," Merlin said with false seriousness, "a genuine prince. And how exactly are you single again?"

Genuine hurt flashed across Arthur's face for the briefest of seconds before his expression became closed and guarded and Merlin wondered if it had even been there at all.

"I didn't—"

"We should pick up the pace," Arthur interrupted, tossing his cup in the bin outside of the building, "we're nearly late and after this morning, I don't want arriving by the skin of your teeth to become a habit."

Merlin bit his lip to keep from arguing his point further and followed Arthur.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and a big hello to everyone who is reading! I hope you all like this chapter. I do apologise for taking so long to add more. **

Arthur remembered why he liked Ian Bayard almost immediately: the man got right down to business and didn't play games. They had been in their meeting for nearly three hours now and he was impressed with how little bargaining or arguing over the merger had occurred. He supposed that he had been in talks with Mercia Corporation for months now, but he'd still expected something to go wrong or for one last demand to occur during their meeting that would set them back.

"I'm not going to sign it today," Bayard said, leaning back in his chair as he paged through the documents he and Arthur had been discussing. "A few of our board members need to go over it and we'll meet again tomorrow morning to discuss any revisions."

Arthur nodded. "I understand." He waited a few moments before adding, "Are there any additions you'd like me to consider now?"

"Not at the moment, no." He looked at Arthur's face and frowned. "Don't think that I want to go back on our agreement, Arthur. I'm more than happy with the arrangements. Camelot has been very generous with its offer for the new software and processor, it's simply a matter of speaking with legal and ensuring the newest contracts are in line."

"I was assured by our department that everything was in order," Arthur replied and, despite his words, his tone was friendly rather than angry.

Bayard smiled. "We only want to protect ourselves. You know how it goes."

Arthur chuckled. "I do, Ian, I really do."

Bayard put the documents back in their folder and got to his feet, tucking the folder under his arm. "It's always a pleasure doing business with you, Arthur."

Arthur stood up and shook Bayard's hand. "Likewise, Ian. Mercia's always been supportive of our work."

"Let me take you to dinner," Bayard offered, leading Arthur out of his office. "Your father always does the same for my wife and I when we're in Birmingham and I'd like to repay the favour. It's rare for you or Uther to come to London these days."

"I've only been back a few times since leaving LSE," Arthur agreed.

"Lillian's in Devon visiting our daughter or I'd invite you over. I'm a terrible cook myself unless you're partial to omelettes or freezer meals, in which case you're more than welcome," Bayard said amicably, making Arthur laugh. "However, there's a very good Italian place near your hotel and I could easily arrange for a reservation."

"That would be lovely," Arthur replied. "I'll just have to tell my PA he's to fend for himself."

Bayard waved Arthur's comment aside. "Bring him along. I'll meet you at your hotel at seven and we'll go to the restaurant together."

"Great, thanks, Ian." Arthur shook Bayard's hand again and went to collect Merlin from where he was working on his laptop on a lobby couch.

"Merlin," Arthur called, coming to stand in front of Merlin's hunched over frame.

Merlin looked up and offered Arthur a rueful smile. "Did you need something?"

Arthur tried not to roll his eyes. "We're done for now. It's a good thing I didn't need anything while in that meeting. I'd never have gotten it if you were out here playing."

"You had the file you needed," Merlin replied with a small grin. He shoved his laptop back in its bag and threw the strap over his shoulder. "All done?"

"For today," Arthur confirmed, walking over to the lift. "Bayard's invited us to have dinner with him."

Merlin's eyes widened and he stepped into the lift with Arthur. "Ian Bayard?"

"Yes."

"The founder and owner of Mercia Corporation?" Merlin murmured with reverence.

"Yes," Arthur repeated, frowning as he stepped out of the lift and walked towards the building exit. "Why? Do you not want to come?"

"No," Merlin said quickly, following Arthur. "Of course I'd like to come." He shook his head. "I didn't think I'd actually meet him while we were here."

"Who else did you think we were dealing with?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow at Merlin as they headed to the Tube station. "Of course, there's the board of directors and a few of the managers who needed to agree with the deal, but Bayard is always directly involved."

"Why's he invited me? Shouldn't this dinner be for business?" Merlin let Arthur lead the way through the station and towards their platform.

"Dinner's just dinner; we only talk about business in the office," Arthur said firmly. At Merlin's curious look, Arthur added, "We'll catch up. His daughter was at school with my sister."

"Posh boarding school?" Merlin asked before he could stop himself.

Arthur chuckled despite himself. "Something like that."

Merlin almost looked apologetic. "Lance said she's very nice."

"Did he?" Arthur asked with amusement, boarding the train as its brakes hissed and the doors opened. "She'll like that."

"Are you close?" When Arthur arched a confused brow, Merlin clarified, "You and your sister."

Arthur frowned. "Yeah, I suppose so. She's my step-sister really."

"Does that matter?" Merlin glanced at Arthur out of the corner of his eye as he sat down.

"No," Arthur said thoughtfully, looking out the window at the platform as the trained pulled out of the station. "We're good friends, I think. Do you have siblings?"

Merlin smiled openly at Arthur, pleased at having been asked about himself. He hoped it meant Arthur was over whatever had upset him earlier when Merlin had teased him about being single. "No. Just me. My best mate practically lived with us after his dad passed away, but we were well into our teens by then."

"Oh." Arthur seemed unsure of how to react to that comment. "I'm sorry."

Merlin laughed. "Don't be." He shook his head. "I mean, thank you. Will would appreciate…well, no, he wouldn't, actually, but you've nothing to be sorry for. It was great, actually."

Arthur stared at Merlin. "That your best mate's dad died?"

"Well, not that bit," Merlin amended quickly, running his hand through his hair and looking guilty. "That's not what I meant."

"Don't hurt yourself, I know what you meant." Arthur grinned. "It was rather nice when Morgana came to live with us and I liked her mother quite a lot."

"They're not still married?" Merlin inquired. "Her mum and your dad, I mean."

Arthur shook his head and got to his feet, the train rolling to a jerky stop, and turned his back to Merlin in an effort to end the conversation. "This is us."

Merlin nodded and followed Arthur out. "It's nice that you still think of her as your sister."

"Huh?" Arthur looked at Merlin over his shoulder consideringly. "Oh, you mean Morgana. Yes, well, she didn't have anywhere else to go."

Merlin looked confused for a moment before realisation dawned on him and he decided not to say anything else on the subject. "So what are we having for dinner?"

Arthur snorted at Merlin's poor attempt at a conversation shift, but he was grateful that he wasn't going to have to answer questions about Morgana's mother's death.

XXXXXX

"Smart lad, your PA," Bayard noted after Merlin excused himself to the restroom.

"He's all right," Arthur agreed, trying not to be too obvious as he watched Merlin walk away from the table. "Not the worst PA out there."

Bayard chuckled. "He can't be stupid. Not if he graduated with a First from Edinburgh and then did a Masters at Birmingham. What have you got him making your tea for?"

"He doesn't make my tea," Arthur protested though he understood where Bayard was coming from. Merlin was intelligent, well-educated, and very good with computers. He'd be an asset to any company and Arthur didn't want to let him go. Though he had more reasons for wanting to keep Merlin around than just thinking Merlin did a decent job.

"Well, I've got a place for him if you're not planning on using him for more than an errand boy," Bayard commented, watching Arthur closely. "If you can spare him, of course."

Arthur frowned. "Are you planning on stealing PA?"

Bayard chuckled. "Arthur, you'd be a fool to think you're going to keep him as a PA for very long. We're about to post an opening for a new software engineer that he'd be perfect for."

Arthur hated to admit that Bayard was right, but he knew it would be a position Merlin would excel at. Arthur had seen Merlin's résumé; he would have hired Merlin on in a heartbeat if there were a position open in the correct department. If he were honest with himself, he knew Merlin had to be looking for a job that would utilise his skill set and pay him well for it.

"Arthur?" Bayard looked at him with mild concern. "I'm not going to offer him the job right away, but you should know, I will tell him to apply if you don't plan on hiring him for Camelot."

"He already works for Camelot," Arthur reminded him.

"You know that's not what I mean. You ought to think about it," Bayard encouraged. "I can tell you like him, that's a good enough recommendation for me. I'll probably hire him if he applies, but I'm not going to steal him from you."

Arthur nodded, smiling slightly. He appreciated Bayard's honesty and consideration. Not many businessmen were half as loyal, and Arthur knew that despite the number of projects they'd partnered on, Mercia also worked with Camelot's competitors. "When are you posting the position?"

"Next week," Bayard answered.

"I'll think about it," Arthur promised. "I'd like to keep him at Camelot as more than just my," he grinned, "'glorified tea maker'."

Bayard laughed. "I won't say anything to him until after the business papers are signed. Wouldn't want you to think I'm trying to coerce you into a better deal." He held up a hand as Arthur started to protest that he would never have thought such a thing. "Arthur, don't worry, I know."

Arthur nodded, frowning. "I'll think about it."

"Good," Bayard agreed. "But you'd better decide quickly, I'd like to have him."

XXXXXX

"What's wrong?" Merlin asked after they'd parted ways with Bayard after dinner. The set of Arthur's shoulders and thin line of his mouth alerted Merlin that something was amiss.

Arthur glanced over at Merlin and had to smile; he looked so concerned. "It's nothing."

"Is it about the deal? Is something going to fall through?" Merlin fidgeted with his jacket sleeve, clearly trying to hide his worry and doing a very poor job.

"No, that's all sorted. I'll meet with Bayard in the morning and then again on Friday with the board, Saturday we'll sign the papers, and then everything should be finished." Arthur shrugged and pulled out his mobile, comforted by the familiar motion of scrolling through his email, even if there was nothing new in his inbox. "If everything goes smoothly, we'll be able to leave London a day early."

"Then what is it?" Merlin pressed curiously, trying not to take offense at the fact that Arthur had his mobile out rather than look him in the eye. "It isn't about what I said earlier, is it? I was only teasing you. You're really not that bad and there's nothing wrong…" He turned pink and Arthur was startled into laughing.

"Thanks, so much. Are you always this good with compliments?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"You bring out the worst in me," Merlin retorted though the smile he offered was sheepish. He bumped Arthur's shoulder companionably, asking gently, "Really, what's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it." Arthur stopped outside of their hotel and looked up at it, sighing. "Long day, yeah?"

Merlin shrugged, thinking about how he'd mostly sat in Mercia's lobby while Arthur met with Bayard. "Not so much for me."

"You slept in," Arthur teased, laughing at the look on Merlin's face. He studied Merlin for a moment, wondering if he shouldn't tell him about Bayard's offer and before he could think about it he blurted, "Fancy a drink?"

Merlin looked surprised, but before Arthur could take it back he said, with more warmth than Arthur had expected, "Yeah, I'd like that."

XXXXXX

Arthur wasn't sure what had changed, but when they chose a table in the hotel bar he found himself having thoughts about Merlin that he'd barely even entertained before. Leon had teased him about liking Merlin and, while he did enjoy Merlin's company and had checked him out more than once, he'd never seriously considered doing more than trying to find him a more permanent place at Camelot. Now, however, he felt as though he'd inadvertently invited Merlin on a date and found he wasn't as angry with himself as he'd expected. It was an unwritten rule that he shouldn't date an employee who answered directly to him. Human Resources would be all over him if they thought he was behaving inappropriately or had made unwanted advances, but Merlin had agreed and Arthur had no intention of seducing his PA into sleeping with him.

Of course, he reminded himself, Merlin could also view this as just drinks, in which case Arthur didn't need to worry about HR or being accused of some sort of favouritism. It wasn't very late after all and getting drinks with his boss was probably preferable to an empty hotel room and crap television.

Arthur jumped when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he stared at Merlin's smiling face, thinking that he liked Merlin's smile more than he ought to.

"All right?" Merlin asked, clearly amused. "I'll get yours. What would you like?"

"Whiskey," Arthur answered, "but I've got it."

"This isn't exactly a business expense," Merlin teased and walked over to the bar before Arthur could protest.

Arthur watched Merlin place their orders, frowning slightly. He wasn't sure what to make of Merlin's comment, but he had to agree: after-dinner drinks with his PA was not going to make it on the company credit card.

"All yours." Merlin placed Arthur's drink on the table and sipped his own cocktail. "We'll sleep well tonight after that dinner and these drinks." He raised his eyebrows at his glass. "I don't think they water their liquor down."

Arthur chuckled. "We're in a nice hotel, not a seedy nightclub."

"I don't spend my time in seedy nightclubs," Merlin protested.

"Someone's defensive," Arthur replied dryly.

"Shut up." Merlin laughed. "You're such a prat."

"Your insults are nearly as bad as your compliments," Arthur commented, pleased when Merlin smiled at him again. He could feel himself relaxing. He liked Merlin's company and when he was honest with himself, he knew it was for more reasons than just finding Merlin amusing.

XXXXXX

They stayed at the hotel bar for over an hour and it wasn't until Arthur's mobile buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to start tapping out an email that Merlin remembered it wasn't a date but drinks with his boss.

"I'm off to bed, I think," Merlin said quietly, not wanting to disturb Arthur but also feeling irked that even at ten o'clock at night Arthur felt his mobile was more important than human interaction.

Arthur looked up from his mobile, a frown on his face. "If you give me one minute, I'll go up with you."

"I don't need you to walk me to my room," Merlin teased, trying to remind himself more than Arthur that this has just been a friendly drink. "I'll see you at breakfast."

"Merlin, wait a moment," Arthur said, reaching out and grabbing Merlin's wrist.

Merlin stopped and looked down at where Arthur was holding his wrist. Arthur seemed to realise what he'd done and he let go as if he'd been burned, looking embarrassed. Merlin half-smiled, feeling as though he'd lost something he hadn't even been looking for and murmured, "Good night, Arthur," before deciding to take the stairs up to the third floor.

Merlin let himself into his hotel room and leaned against the closed door with a sigh. He briefly considered ringing Will or Lance but dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it had come. Will would tease him for kidding himself into thinking he should ever go on a date with his boss and then lecture him for developing a crush on such a wealthy prat. Lance would make sympathetic sounds and tell Merlin he should take the risk while promising to give Arthur a thorough talking- to if he ever really hurt Merlin.

This was bad, he decided, he really did have a crush on his boss and he'd thought, up until Arthur started working on his mobile, that Arthur might feel the same way.

"You know that's part of why his last relationship ended," he chided himself. "You don't want someone who loves his work more than you."

He straightened up at that last thought, wondering when on earth having an interest in Arthur might somehow turn into love one day. It was too uncomfortable to think about and he forced himself to strip off his suit, hang it up, and get ready for bed.

XXXXXX

After helping Arthur sort out the paperwork he would need for the meeting, Merlin retreated back to the nook he'd crammed himself into the previous day and started to work. He'd brought enough with him on his external hard drive that he didn't mind being left behind or told that he was expected to work while Arthur was in meetings.

"You're welcome to share my desk," offered a young woman with bright green eyes and short blonde hair who was working the reception area. "Jen's out sick and I won't bother you."

Merlin smiled at her and quickly accepted, thinking that anything was preferable to balancing his laptop and file folder on his lap. "Thank you."

"Of course," the woman replied, smiling at him. "I'm Anna." She indicated a chair he could take. "You'll have to use your own computer, I'm afraid, but no one will bother you, especially not me."

Merlin thought she seemed like a chatterbox, but he held his tongue and thanked her.

It turned out Anna was true to her word and didn't speak to him again past the first introduction and to invite him to lunch, which he declined.

"I don't want to run out if Arthur needs me," Merlin informed her when she frowned and told him he needed to eat. He wondered when he'd started caring about whether or not Arthur needed him around and hastily reminded himself that this job was only temporary.

"Mr Pendragon left a little while ago to have lunch with Mr Bayard and a few of the board members," Anna replied. She looked at him for a moment and then said decisively, "I'll get you something from the lunch cart."

"No, you don't—," he began but she'd already left, swinging her purse over her shoulder with a flourish.

Merlin sighed and leaned back in his chair, thinking that it was time he started to seriously look for a new job.

XXXXXX

"Merlin, I need to speak with you," Arthur said instead of a greeting when Merlin answered his mobile.

"Er, yeah? What is it?" Merlin asked with some trepidation. He'd left Mercia Corporation around three when Arthur told him to take copies of the deal back to the hotel and then take the rest of the afternoon off. Now he was in the hotel room wearing nothing but a towel around his waist and looking longingly at his jeans, wondering if he could get away with wearing them at dinner.

"Where are you?"

"I'm in my room but I…Oh, hang on, there's someone at the door." Merlin opened the door a crack to tell whomever it was to please come back later, but Arthur pushed the door open before Merlin could say anything.

"You're hopeless you…" Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Maybe put some clothes on, yeah?"

Merlin glared and shoved Arthur so that he turned around. "I tried telling you I'd just gotten out of the shower." He snatched his jeans, underwear, and a long-sleeved button down from his case and retreated into the bathroom.

"Don't open the door next time if you're not trying to give me a show," Arthur called and Merlin could hear the laughter in his voice.

"You're disgusting," Merlin said reproachfully as he came out of the bathroom in the clean clothes, though his mouth twitched in amusement. "What did you need?"

Arthur looked Merlin over once and Merlin tried to suppress a shiver. Arthur seemed to realise what he was doing and snapped his eyes up to Merlin's face. "I wanted to see about dinner. There's something we should discuss."

Merlin felt his stomach flip over uncomfortably. "You're not sacking me, are you?"

"No," Arthur said though his brows knit together in a way Merlin had come to learn meant he'd touched a nerve. "It's something else."

Merlin nodded and grabbed his coat, wallet, and mobile. "All right. You're choosing, though, right? I haven't found much more than a coffee shop and I doubt they do dinner."

XXXXXX

Arthur hated that he had to tell Merlin about the job at Mercia. Bayard had brought it up again during lunch and Arthur knew he wouldn't feel right keeping it from Merlin. While Morgana and Leon were both right, Arthur would have loved to recruit Merlin for Camelot; there simply weren't any open positions. He'd even phoned his father after that drink with Merlin to see if there were any upcoming openings in the software production department but it had been to no avail. The only position that Arthur could offer was the one Merlin currently held. If he had it his way, he would sack Edwin and replace him with Merlin. Leon was right: Edwin was a tit.

"You've got that look on your face again," Merlin said, looking at Arthur curiously over the salad he'd ordered. "Is this to do with Mercia?"

Arthur shook his head. "No, that's all going extremely smoothly. If it were anyone other than Bayard I'd be wondering what they're after. It's a good thing we came to that deal a few years ago or we'd never have progressed."

Merlin grinned and started to eat. "Well, Camelot has done well for itself."

Arthur smiled wryly. "Indeed." He sighed and watched Merlin for a moment before deciding there was no tactful way to put this and just asked, "How long are you planning on working for me?"

"What?" Merlin asked, a guilty expression on his face that let Arthur know the answer before Merlin could say anything.

"It's just, you're well-qualified," Arthur began, spitting the words out as though they tasted badly. He hated that he was going to lose Merlin when he knew he could put him to good use, if only there were an open position!

"Thank you." Merlin chuckled and watched Arthur expectantly.

"There's a position opening at Mercia for a software engineer," Arthur began slowly, watching Merlin for any signs that he was about to jump up from the table and prostrate himself in front of Bayard and beg for the job. "I think you should apply."

Merlin looked surprised. "Really? You'd give me a recommendation?" He beamed when Arthur nodded. "Oh, that's really wonderful. Thank you, Arthur."

Arthur shrugged. "It's no guarantee you'll get it, but the job will post on Monday and they'll start the interview process in a few weeks."

"Thank you," Merlin repeated gratefully. "I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, sure," Arthur replied and tried not to sound bitter when he told Merlin he could have Friday to himself while Arthur was in the meetings. It was petty to exclude Merlin from Mercia, but he couldn't help but think he'd be able to hold onto him a little longer if he kept Merlin out of Bayard's sight.


End file.
